One of my day jobs involves taking care of kids after school… tutoring, crafts, and a lot of improvisation.

Two sixth-grade girls said I should do a blog-post about each kid. I don’t think that’s a good idea, but a more general blog about working at the school is doable. More specifically, I’ll go into what I’ve learned working with kids. And yes, all of these have happened since January.

Construction paper robots have to have perfect weddings, with all the trimmings.

Knot-tying is best taught with animal metaphors (“the little eel swims into the cave”).

Not being able to spell “turkey” is a 12-story crisis.

Five AM at Freddy’s is fun, but Home Alone is terrifying. (Who knew?)

Hair clips are surprisingly sharp, and they can cause quite a lot of blood.

They remember and forget bodily autonomy with no set pattern.

Wet paper towels make everything better.

Dolphins and tigers are the most fascinating animals on earth.

I constantly have to drop subtle messages like “moving chairs isn’t just for boys” and “being a girl doesn’t make you a scaredy-cat.” (Thanks, co-worker.)

Asking them if they follow what I just said (like the bad guy in The Sting) gets amazing results.

Most importantly, they know how adults are supposed to behave and remember when the adults in their lives (or the President) don’t live up to that standard. (Just for the record… they volunteered their disdain for the creature sitting in the Oval Office. I guess that means there’s hope for the future.)